Part 2: A Great Spiritual Shepherdess and Her Bond with Zion

Introduction:

Part 1 of this letter began
to discuss the life and
pioneering accomplishments
of Sarah Schenirer, the
Chassidic woman who founded
the Bais Yaakov network of
Torah schools for girls. She
passed away on Shabbos eve,
26 Adar 1, 5695 – March 1,
1935. Today is 26 Adar 1,
and it is therefore her
yahrtzeit.

Part 2 of this letter will
discuss how Sarah actively
encouraged her students to
move to the Land of Zion.
Before we can discuss this
topic, we first need to
understand her spiritual
outlook regarding the
purpose of the Land. I will
therefore briefly review
with you the following
development among Jews in
the early 20th century which
influenced her outlook:

The World Zionist
Organization, which was
established in 1897, became
dominated by secular leaders
who sought to have
nationalism replace the
Torah as the guiding spirit
of our people. This is why
the W.Z.O. passed a
resolution in 1911 which
proclaimed: “Zionism has
nothing to do with
religion.” In addition, the
W.Z.O. began to establish
schools and cultural
programs which stressed that
“nationalism” was the new
raison d’etre of our people.
These developments caused a
good number of the religious
members of the W.Z.O. to
resign. Many of those that
resigned later joined the
new international Chareidi
organization, Agudath
Israel, which was founded by
the Chofetz Chaim and other
leading sages in 1912 on the
following principle: The
fulfillment of the Torah –
the Divine Teaching – is the
raison d’etre of our people.

Sarah Schenirer was part of
the Chareidi community. The
term “chareidi” connotes
fervent concern or zeal, and
it also refers to the
“trembling” that can result
from intense loving concern
or awe. The Prophet Isaiah
uses the related term
“Chareidim” to describe
those who are fervently
loyal to the Torah when many
of our people are ignoring
the Divine Teaching; thus,
the Prophet refers to these
loyal souls as those who are
“Chareidim regarding His
word” (Isaiah 66:5). During
the early 20th century, the
term Chareidim was used to
describe those
Torah-committed Jews who
strongly opposed the efforts
of the World Zionist
Organization to have
nationalism replace the
Torah as the raison d’etre
of our people. They
therefore did not join the
W.Z.O., and they strived to
renew Zion in the spirit of
the Divine Teaching.

Most of the information is
this letter is from the
book, “Carry Me in Your
Heart” – The Life and Legacy
of Sarah Schenirer. It was
written by her student,
Pearl Benisch, and published
by Feldheim.

Dear Friends,

With the help of Agudath
Israel, the following
movement for young Jewish
women and girls was founded
by Sarah Schenirer: “Bnos
Agudath Israel.” The
students in the Bais Yaakov
movement were active in this
youth organization, and
these activists felt a great
longing for the Land of
Zion. Their longing for the
Land was strengthened when
they read in the Bais Yaakov
Journal about Sarah
Schenirer’s intense desire
to tread on the holy soil
where the prophets and sages
walked. They were moved by
her desire “to hear every
tree, every blade of grass
retell the erstwhile glory
of our Land.” The lessons on
the psalms taught by Sarah
and other teachers increased
their inspiration by
exalting the Land as the
abode of the “Shechinah” –
Divine Presence.

The Hebrew term “aliyah” –
an ascent – also refers to
moving to our Sacred Land.
The deeper reason for the
use of this term with regard
to moving to our Sacred Land
is because such a move is a
spiritual ascent. With the
help of Agudath Israel, the
Bnos organization set up
three “hachsharos” –
training centers – which
prepared groups of young
activists for their aliyah
to our Sacred Land, which is
also known in our tradition
as “Eretz Yisrael” – the
Land of Israel (Ezekiel
40:2)..

When Bnos Agudath Israel
began preparing these young
activists for aliyah, the
immigration certificates to
Eretz Yisrael were
controlled by the Jewish
Agency of the World Zionist
Organization, as when the
British government began to
rule over the Land after
World War One, it gave the
W.Z.O. administrative
control over the Jewish
communities in the Land.
(Ironically, when this
transfer of power took
place, the majority of the
Jewish residents in the Land
were Chareidi men and women
who had established
communities in the Land
before the rise of the World
Zionist Organization.)

After consolidating its
power, the Jewish Agency
decided not to give
immigration certificates to
Chareidi men and women in
the Diaspora. This was
because the Chareidim were
not members of the W.Z.O.;
moreover, the Jewish Agency
was afraid that a large
Chareidi immigration would
reinforce the existing
Chareidi population in the
Land and thereby endanger
the control of the W.Z.O.
over the Land. After several
years of protests to the
Jewish Agency, Agudath
Israel finally received a
small number of immigration
certificates.

After receiving some
certificates, the first Bnos
aliyah group was scheduled
to depart to Eretz Yisrael
in 1934. Sarah Schenirer
received the great news with
tremendous joy and
enthusiasm. Before these
dedicated youth embarked on
their journey, Sarah wrote
an inspirational letter to
them which was published in
the Bais Yaakov Journal. The
letter reminded them of the
following words from the
ancient prayer that we chant
on the Festivals: “Because
of our sins, we were exiled
from our Land.” These words
are based on the messages
from the Prophets of Israel
regarding the cause of the
exile from our Land. The
following is the text of the
letter which was addressed
to her “dear daughters”:

…………………………………..

Remember your great
responsibility there in the
Holy Land, where every blade
of grass reminds you that
“Because of our sins, we
were exiled from our Land.”
What a great responsibility
it will be for you, to be
more vigilant than in the
Diaspora not to transgress
God’s mitzvos.

Remember the great trust our
people have invested in you
and especially that of
Agudath Israel, which gave
you this great opportunity
to live in the Promised
Land. You are about to go to
Jerusalem, the city of
unity, of wholeness as her
name proclaims. Only in
Jerusalem can you feel
Hashem’s Presence so
closely. It is the center of
the universe that God
created, the place where His
Shechinah rests.

Our tribes came to the Land,
inspired by the giving of
the Torah on Mount Sinai,
eager to spread God’s truth
to the world. As it says,
“From Zion will go forth
Torah, and the Word of
Hashem from Jerusalem”
(Isaiah 2:3).

You too, my dear children,
are going to the Holy Land
with a purpose. Realizing
the great merit of settling
Eretz Yisrael, inspired by
the holiness surrounding
you, you should fulfil the
mitzvos with more enthusiasm
and joy than you do here.

May Hashem bless you with
success in your ways and
with everything you do. May
you also influence the
estranged Jewish youth in
our Land to heed Hashem’s
word. May the Almighty
watch over you and help you
in all your holy endeavors.

…………………………………

Sarah’s inspiring words
about the spiritual purpose
of the Land can remind us of
the following message that
Moshe, our Teacher, conveyed
to our people before we
entered the Promised Land:

“See! I have taught you
statutes and social laws, as
Hashem, my God, has
commanded me, to do so in
the midst of the Land to
which you come, to posses
it.” (Deuteronomy 4:5)

Have a Good and
Strengthening Shabbos,
Yosef Ben Shlomo Hakohen
(See below)

Related Comments:

1. At a later stage, in
1939, the British government
severely limited Jewish
immigration to the Land;
thus, there were only a
small number of immigration
certificates available that
year. Most of these were
given to those groups that
were members of the World
Zionist Organization.

2. Some members of the W.Z.O.
have the misconception that
all the Chassidic Rebbes of
Eastern Europe forbade their
Chassidim from settling in
Eretz Yisrael after the
W.Z.O. assumed control over
the Land. Dr. Yitzchak
Alfasi is a noted historian
of the Chassidic movement,
and he has written a
documented work, soon to be
published, which refutes
this claim. The work
includes the following
information:

There were leading Chassidic
Rebbes during the period
between World War 1 and
World War 2 who actively
supported settling Eretz
Yisrael, even though they
strongly opposed the secular
ideology of the World
Zionist Organization. Among
them was the Belzer Rebbe,
whose name was Rav Aharon
Rokeach; the Modzitzer Rebbe,
who was known as the Imrei
Shaul; and the Gerrer Rebbe,
who was known as the Imrei
Emes.

The following are some
examples of the Gerrer
Rebbe’s active support of
settling Eretz Yisrael: In
the early 1920’s, Gerrer
Chassidim founded the
Chareidi agricultural
settlement of Bnei Brak. It
later developed into a city.
Gerrer Chassidim later
founded two other Chareidi
agricultural settlements.
Other Gerrer Chassidim
settled in cities. Many more
Gerrer Chassidim wanted to
come to Eretz Yisrael, but
as we discussed in the above
letter, they were unable to
ascend to the Land due to
the discrimination of the
Jewish Agency against
Chareidi immigrants.

The Gerrer Rebbe visited
Eretz Yisrael six times, and
on his sixth visit, he
planned to remain in Eretz
Yisrael permanently, already
having an apartment in
Jerusalem. There were
certain pressing
circumstances, however,
which forced him to return
to Poland. After Nazi
Germany invaded Poland, he
was on the Nazis’ most
wanted list, but he managed
to escape to Eretz Yisrael
with several of his sons in
1940. When he arrived, there
was already a network of
Gerrer institutions which
had been founded under his
guidelines by the Gerrer
Chassidim in the Land.

There were only two
Chassidic Rebbes who
officially opposed aliyah
after the W.Z.O. took
control of the Land: The
Lubavitcher Rebbe and the
Satmar Rebbe. The Satmar
Rebbe later withdrew his ban
on aliyah, but the
Lubavitcher Rebbe did not.

Dr. Alfasi also discusses
the various Chassidic groups
that made aliyah to the Land
during the period from the
late 18 century until the
early 20th century. For
example, a group of
Lubavitcher Chassidim
settled in Hebron. One of
the prominent members of
this group was Rebbetzen
Menuchah Rochel Slonim,
daughter of Rebbe Dov Ber,
the “Mitteler (middle) Rebbe.”

In 1936, there was the third
international convention of
Agudath Israel. At this
convention, leading Torah
sages, including great
Chassidic Rebbes, appealed
to members of Agudath Israel
to strive to make aliyah,
and to strengthen the
Chareidi settlement in the
Land. As we learned, the
lack of immigration
certificates for Chareidi
men and women was a major
obstacle to this goal.

The above information from
the work by Dr. Yitzchak
Alfasi appeared in an
article about this work
which was published in the
English edition of Mishapaca
Magazine (33 Sivan, 5768 –
June 25, 2008).